A leopard that had briefly attacked two farmers and terrorised the locals was secured and released into the reserve forest of Malahalli on Thursday after a forenoon-long struggle.
In a battle that lasted over six hours, a rescue team secured a leopard that had secured itself inside a banana plantation in Adhiyamankottai on Thursday morning.
The presence of the predator was known after the owner of the plantation Balakrishnan sensed the presence of a strange animal inside the plantation.
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According to sources, Balakrishnan, who owns the 50 cents banana plantation was chatting with a fellow farmer Annadurai, passing by his plantation, when the duo sensed the movement of an animal inside.
Following this, the farmers went inside to look when a leopard pounced over the shoulder of Annadurai. The brief attack injured Annadurai, and the leopard fled the spot.
A 30 strong-forest rescue team, bolstered by over 40 police personnel arrived on the spot to spearhead the operation to secure the leopard. However, the rescue efforts were rendered complex, with curious locals converging on the spot. Police force was used to ward off the curious onlookers.
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Later, the ferocious leopard that was equally petrified and defensive was netted and secured inside a cage way past noon. The animal was carried off to Malahalli reserve forest, about 80 km from Dharmapuri and was released inside forest. The injured farmers were admitted for treatment to Dharmapuri government hospital.